


if i could escape

by rxbron



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Prison AU, will tag more in the future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-10-02 17:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10223729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rxbron/pseuds/rxbron
Summary: He looked deeply troubled and worried now, very different to how he looked a few minutes ago.Robert noticed his bouncing knee under the table and how he kept fiddling with his hands; touching his face, tapping his fingers off the side of the table and pulling his jumper sleeves over his knuckles.Jason must have already used one of his lovely threats on the poor man.~the prison AU nobody asked for.





	1. Newbie

**Author's Note:**

> when will i learn? always finish a fic before starting a new one!!! i'm so sorry! i lost all my files on my computer last week and i never kept a backup of the next chapter of count your blessings!! :( i will be writing the chapter in a few weeks when i get my motivation back! i wrote this last week to cheer myself up because i really dislike aaron being in prison lmao. if this gets good feedback i will continue with it and back up all written chapters!! enjoy x

Robert glanced up from unsolved rubix cube to see Jason walking into the lounge room with three of his so called ‘friends’ hot on his heels. He chuckled to himself when he remembered his friend, Liam calling them the 'disciples' yesterday.

Jason gave him an annoyed look before turning to the football table.

Robert rolled his eyes and looked back down to his rubix cube, after he heard Jason click his fingers at the two young men who were playing at the table. They immediately ducked their heads and scurried out of the room nearly tripping over their own feet.

"Idiots..." Jason laughed with others, reaching for the small white football at the corner of the table.

"Heard you're getting a roomie today, mate."

One of Jason's followers, Iain, spoke to another, Ethan.

Robert looked up towards them again and noticed Jason's face had lit up at his friend's comment. He kept a hard stare on Ethan until he replied.

"Oh yeah, coming in soon I think. Hope he's not a newbie." Ethan never lifted his head to see Jason's scheming sly smile which revealed his cunning and deceitful nature. He was like a child waiting to open their presents on Christmas Day.

"Well, I hope he is." Jason grinned, elbowing Iain beside him who laughed along with him.

Ethan gave a quick laugh before turning his attention back to the game, his smile quickly fading.

Robert felt sorry for the poor lad. He had accidently became part of Jason's group after he hit another inmate who was annoying Jason one day. He had been riled up that morning after finding out his girlfriend had been cheating on him for months the night before and he took the first chance he saw to let his frustration out.

The young man also had anger management issues that of course Jason had also taken advantage of ever since that day.

"Looks like your roomie has already arrived, bro..."

Robert turned his eyes towards the door to see another member of Jason's gang walking in with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"I think he's a newbie."

"Oh, you better go and say hello then, Ethan." Iain grinned.

"Bring him down here afterwards. I'd like to say hello."

Jason's exasperating laugh filled the room as Ethan turned to walk out. It sent chills some days down his back.

Robert threw the rubix cube onto the chair next to him and stood up. He couldn't be bothered watching Jason taunt this new guy. He had seen it all before and it became less comical every time he did it.

He was about to step outside the door when Ethan bumped into him on his way out.

"Sorry, mate." He mumbled before walking past him and down along the corridor but suddenly stopping on his tracks. He turned to Robert who was heading in the opposite direction to him.

"Here, Robert." He jogged up to him.

"I-I know I took it yesterday but can I take your time again today? I need to speak to the girlfriend..." He muttered as his cheeks grew a little pink.

Robert nodded and replied, with a friendly smile, "Go on then, good luck."

Ethan laughed, a little embarrassed.

"Thanks mate. I owe ya one."

Robert pitifully shook his head as he watched Ethan jog back down the corridor.

He was after losing count now how many times Ethan had taken Robert's call time to speak to his ex-girlfriend, the woman who had split up with him months ago. Poor lad still wouldn't give up.

Plus it's not like Robert needed the call time anyway.

The only person he spoke to was his solicitor once a week to keep him up to date on his financial affairs and the local news since some hot headed, idiot smashed up the main television in the lounge and caused them all to receive a ban of no television for a month.

Robert silently prayed everyday his release date would have a few months and days taken off it or someone would break him out.

\---  
  
An hour later, Robert left his cell to go to the canteen for dinner.

He took a glance into the lounge as he passed to see Jason talking to a bearded man who was standing beside a timid looking Ethan.He must be the newbie.

 _God love him_ , Robert thought before he continued his journey down the corridor.

After taking a seat alongside the couple of lads he had befriended a few months ago, a loud sigh left Robert’s mouth when heard Jason obnoxious laugh fill the noisy canteen.

You could always hear that man before you see could him.

"Does he have to be so loud the whole time?" Tim spoke up next to Robert, stabbing his carrots angrily, with his fork.

He had only been imprisoned a month ago and was still becoming accustomed to Jason’s crazy antics and traits.

Robert chuckled at his friend before his other friend, Liam spoke up.

"If I were in here for life, I'd have him shut up by now." He muttered, also still annoyed every time he heard or saw Jason even though he had been inside for 4 months now.

Robert was about to reply when the unfamiliar bearded man he saw in the lounge with Jason’s gang, caught his eyes a few feet away from him.

He was walking along with Ethan behind Jason and Robert could see Ethan was whispering harshly to him, looking at Jason in front of him every two seconds.

There was no doubt he was probably trying to advise on what not to say or do around Jason.

The young man didn't look really bothered or worried as Ethan spoke. He kept his eyes fixed onto the back of Jason's head with a straight face.

His first meeting with him must have not gone well.

"That must be the new lad." Liam commented, noticing Robert’s attention was elsewhere.

"Don't like the look of him..." Tim muttered with his mouth full of mashed potatoes which made them all laugh.

Robert glanced back to the man to see him sitting down beside Ethan at the end of Jason's table.

"He's well in there already, eh?" Liam grumbled.

Robert hummed in reply but kept his eyes fixed on the man. He was a little younger than Robert, maybe around 24 or 25. He kept still for a moment when the man turned his head to look around the room.

His eyes landed onto Robert's table and soon onto Robert himself.

Robert swallowed his food, not taking his eyes off him.

He looked exhausted; his hair was a little dishevelled at places but it still retained the style it had been pushed into by some hair gel and his tired eyes were a gorgeous shade of blue but were slightly puffy.  

He looked deeply troubled and worried now, very different to how he looked a few minutes ago.

Robert noticed his bouncing knee under the table and how he kept fiddling with his hands; touching his face, tapping his fingers off the side of the table and pulling his jumper sleeves over his knuckles.

Jason must have already used one of his lovely threats on the poor man.

His cheeks flushed a little under Robert's stare and he quickly diverted his focus back onto his food.

 _Not a hard man after all_ , Robert thought which then made him wonder how he ended up over there.

"...Earth to Robert Sugden!"

Robert clicked out of his thoughts when he heard Liam call him.

"Uh, sorry....what were you saying?"

Liam squinted his eyes in suspicion at his friend as Tim repeated his question for Robert which was him looking for advice about how will he find a job after his stretch.

\---

When he had finished his dinner, Robert stood up to walk over the bins with his tray of leftovers. He looked up when he felt his tray dig into someone's arm.

"Sorry." He muttered, glancing up to find those blue, tired eyes staring back at him.

The man gave him a brief nod and looked away before he looked at Robert again, unsure whether to go next to empty his tray.

Robert watched the person in front of them leave the bin and he nodded towards the bin, looking at the man.

"Go on."

The man turned to him after placing his now empty tray onto the pile.

"Thanks." He muttered shyly with a quick smile before walking off towards the canteen doors, pulling his sleeves over his hands again.

Robert left out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding or why he had held it. He wasn't the type to befriend new prisoners anymore since he had a few friends in here but after that encounter, he was slowly changing his mind.

He needed to find out more about this intriguing man and one thing is for sure; he had plenty of time to do it.


	2. Another Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for comments & kudos on the first chapter! I hope you all enjoy this one! Sorry it's a bit long!

Aaron groaned when he rolled over onto his left side on the uncomfortable mattress beneath him.

A quiet snigger came from the other side of the room when Aaron clutched to his lower back after feeling a sharp stab of pain when he rolled over.

He shifted again on the mattress and looked across the room to see Ethan smoking what looked like to be some sort of a rolled up cigarette.

"You'll get used to sleeping on it soon mate, don't worry." He chuckled, noticing Aaron was suffering the exact same pain he experienced 5 months ago after his first night.

Aaron looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you smoking?" He whispered, sitting up slowly.

Ethan shrugged, taking a long drag.

"Bit of something special to keep up my energy for the day, if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows with a grin.

Aaron rolled his eyes and leaned back against the wall their bunk bed was against.

"Do you want some?" He asked, holding up a joint he pre-rolled earlier.

Aaron shook his head, never wanting to get involved in drugs again.

"What are you in here for anyway?" He muttered, pulling his knees up to his chest after a couple of minutes of silence.

Ethan shook his head.

"Thought you said you've done a few stretches?" He asked, walking to the toilet to flush away the end of joint.

Aaron furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"I have?"

"Well, it sounds like you haven't! You just broke of the golden rules." He remarked, tidying away his stash behind a loose brick in the wall behind their door.

"What golden rule?"

"You never asked anyone what they've done to end up in here."

Aaron rolled his eyes. Of course he knew that rule but Ethan seemed less likely to deck him if he asked him the question.

"But since I'm nice, I'll tell ya why. I stole eight grand and a fancy car off this posh bloke while I was off my face." Ethan muttered, still annoyed about what he did.

"I woke up next morning in cell with banging headache and a police officer in my face. I got 18 months." He grumbled, lightly kicking the wall to help control his rising anger.

"18 months?" Aaron asked a little surprised.

Ethan nodded, sticking his hands into his pockets.

"Oh, did I not mention I ran over posh bloke as well?" He asked.

Aaron's mouth fell open.

"You didn't!"

Ethan bit his lip to stop him from smiling.

"I was off my head! How was I supposed to know what I was doing?" He asked and began laughing with Aaron.

"Alright, alright. Enough about me! What about you?" Ethan grinned, leaning back against the wall.

Aaron's face fell and he swallowed hard.

"I decked someone pretty hard." He shrugged and jumped down off the bed becoming uncomfortable at where the topic of the conversation was leading to.

Ethan laughed at him before he realised Aaron was serious.

"What, you got 12 months for decking someone? Did you kill them or summat?" He asked in disbelief, watching Aaron walk to their small bathroom.

Aaron scoffed, lightly.

"No, I didn't! He did end up with a broken nose, I think. Apparently that's nearly as bad as murder these days." Aaron replied, hoping to steer Ethan away from the burning question - Why did he do it?

Ethan left out another loud laugh and turned towards the door when one of the prison guards had unlocked it for the day.

“See ya in a bit, mate.”

Aaron sighed in relief when Ethan dropped their discussion and walked out of the cell.

He splashed a few handfuls of cold water onto his face and began to draw breath slowly and count to 10, hoping it would steady his increased heart race.

Maybe some breakfast would help.

\---

  
Aaron walked down the corridor, passing a few loud, complaining men in their cells to the canteen where he noticed there was about only 20 men eating breakfast at the tables. The men he heard complaining must not be morning people.

After receiving a burnt slice of toast and a glass lumpy orange juice, Aaron went to sit on a table on his own as he couldn't locate Ethan anywhere or the head of blonde messy hair anywhere.

Aaron swore he had seen that man before but he hadn't the foggiest idea where.

Following their encounter yesterday, the man was all Aaron could think about to distract him from his own harrowing and nauseating thoughts throughout the night.

Aaron’s breath had caught in his throat when his eyes landed on the man.

He couldn’t stop thinking about those blonde locks, the sharp jaw line, the wide toothy grin which were all accompanied by a pair of gorgeous eyes which of colour Aaron had no time to identify.

He was indeed a very attractive man and unlike most of the men in here, he had manners.

Aaron wasn't expecting him to be nice to him since everyone he had met so far either bit his head off or didn't even reply to him.

He hoped he would meet the man somewhere again as he needed to befriend someone outside Jason's group if he wanted to survive the next 12 months.

He was half way through his slice of toast when a pair of long legs stood into the bench right in front of him and a tray full of food was slammed down beside Aaron’s.

"How was the first night then? Sleep well?"

Aaron's stomach sank when he heard the familiar voice. He looked up to see a wild eyed Jason chewing on a bacon sandwich staring at him with a grin.

"Slept like a baby." He sarcastically muttered, picking up his glass of orange juice.

Jason’s grin disappeared and swallowed his food, loudly before leaning in close to Aaron.

"Glad to hear it ‘cause you might need that energy later." He whispered just as Iain and Ethan sat on either side of Jason with their trays.

Aaron sat there for twenty minutes listening to Jason quizzing up Ethan and Iain about their girlfriends; what are they like and how good are they in bed.

He was overly sure Jason did it just to annoy him ever since he stood up for that lad Jason taunted yesterday afternoon and Ethan also had told him about Aaron’s “brother” was gay last night.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do, alright?"

Was all Jason had said to Aaron yesterday before storming off out of the room, his gang members hot on his heels, throwing glares at Aaron.

Aaron felt queasy thinking of what Jason could do if he ever found out he was actually gay.

"What about you, Aaron? Got a bird at home?" Aaron was about to reply when the bell rang, indicating their breakfast time was over.

"No, I don't." Aaron muttered before leaving the table and counting to ten in his head as he walked back to his cell, not noticing the head of messy blonde hair was sat behind him the whole time.

\---

A few hours later, Aaron decided to head for the library hoping it would past the time and plus it was a change of scenery for him.

He was walking through each row of book shelves, turning up his nose at most of the book titles he had read when he heard a deep voice speak beside him.

"I wouldn't recommend any of these. Read them all and I can confirm watching paint dry would be more interesting."

Aaron looked up from the bunch of literature books in front of him to find the tall, blonde haired man standing in front of him with a smile.

He laughed a little nervously at his comment, looking back again at the books.

"Never read a book in my life, I'm not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to start now...would rather be watching paint dry as you mention it."

Aaron looked back up to him and grinned when he saw he made the man laugh.

After a moment of awkwardly staring at each other, the man introduced himself and extended his hand towards Aaron.

"Robert."

"Aaron."

Aaron replied and shook the man's firm hand.

Robert smiled at him before sticking his hands into his pockets.

"C'mon, I'll show you something more entertaining."

\---

"This is the funniest thing ever."

Aaron left out another loud laugh after he spoke.

Robert grinned beside him, glancing at him every few minutes.

"He can't even pick up a shovel properly." Aaron pointed out, covering his face to hold in his laughter.

Robert had taken Aaron outside of the prison where some of the prisoners were made clean and maintain the yard.

Most of them couldn't even fill a bucket of water or pull a weed properly. It was pretty amusing.

"More entertaining than reading a book, eh?" Robert asked, chuckling at a man who angrily threw his shovel at the wall.

"More entertaining than watching paint dry." Aaron gave him a cheeky grin, sniggering at the same man.

Robert bit his lip, his heart skipping a beat when Aaron’s elbow touched his arm briefly.

"So, uh...you in here long?" Robert asked after their laughter died down.

He hoped he didn’t come across as nosy; he just genuinely wanted to know more about this man.

Aaron's smile faded the minute he heard the question and he shifted nervously on his feet.

"A year..." He mumbled, kicking a small stone on the ground.

Robert nodded and then pointed to a man who fell backwards over the shovel the other man had thrown a few moments ago.

Aaron left out another bark of laughter which eased the awkward atmosphere between them and made Robert's heart swell.

"A year's not bad; you'll be out in no time." Robert spoke carefully, eyeing Aaron.

Aaron nodded and gave Robert a quick smile.

"I know...try telling my mum that."

Robert nodded sympathetically in return.

"The first few weeks are the hardest. It'll get easier. For both of you..."

Aaron sighed softly.

"I hope so." He muttered and leaned back against the prison’s brick wall, his mood after changing.

Robert was about to offer more comfort when he heard the dinner bell ring.

"We better make a move. The good stuff’s always gone if you're last in queue."

Aaron nodded and began to walk back to the door they came out.

"Thanks for...you know..." He mumbled, unsure what to say.

"I know...” Robert replied and held open the door for him with a sweet smile.

Aaron nodded, pulling his sleeves over his knuckles again as he walked in and down the corridor with the taller man.

"Just keep your head down, alright? My cell's door is always open if you need a friendly ear." Robert offered and pointed towards his cell when they past it.

He decided not to mention he had seen Jason annoy him this morning. Aaron looked like he could handle a man like him.

"Thank you." Aaron gratefully replied before they queued up for their food and went their separate ways even though both of them secretly wanted to eat and chat more with each other.

Maybe they could on another day.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!! feel free to comment/leave kudos as i do really want to continue writing this fic! x


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